NEW YEAR, NEW CAREER? - JANUARY BLUES AND THE JOB-HUNT

BEAT 102: It’s probably been a tough couple of weeks for most workers; getting back into the swing of work after Christmas is nasty. And it’s for this reason that more people think about changing jobs now than at any other time of the year. The reasons people choose to leave work are quite interesting. According to a recent survey by the Small Firms Association:

If you’re thinking of moving jobs this year, how can you take the steps to guarantee that you get the job of your dreams? I’m joined on the line by a familiar voice for our regular listeners, the MD of Fortify Services, and author of Where’s My Oasis?, Rowan Manahan. Welcome back to the show Rowan.
Fortify: Thank you for the invitation Niall, it's nice to be back.

Are you surprised at the reasons people give for leaving their jobs - that it’s not all about the money?
Fortify: No, not at all. In the post-war studies of the 40s, 50s and 60s, the two key motivators or drivers identified by employees were always "Job security and take-home pay." That all changed in the 1970s when the 'Job-for-Life' covenant was broken with the advent of mass automation and computerisation. Today, anyone who is looking at a job as being a part of their overall career is probably thinking further than the pay packet. It's still important of course - what with the rising cost of living and the massive surge in property prices. But it hasn't been the primary driver for some time now.

BEAT 102: A quarter of people who left did so because of their workmates - surely there’s not much an employer can do in this situation?
Fortify: Well, exit interviewing is a very useful tool to identify the DETAIL of why someone moves on. People don’t leave companies any more than people leave the institution of marriage – people leave people. Sometimes the term "workmates" can be code for "that creep of a boss that I can’t stand working for ..."

In a globalised, knowledge economy such as ours, it behooves employers to really get a handle on why people choose to move on. Between hiring, training and waiting for someone to settle in to a new role, this all gets to be very expensive. Much better to identify what's going on and ensure that your brightest and most productive employees don't vote with their feet ...

BEAT 102: The feeling that your contribution is not recognised was mentioned by a quarter of people - what exactly are people looking for here? Are we talking gold stars?
Fortify: I have two children in primary school and both of them have long since been introduced to the concept of the gold star. And let me tell you, my kids would crawl over broken glass to get one of those stars! And that love of praise and recognition doesn't disappear merely because you are now nominally a grown-up. Being praised and having your contribution valued is no substitute if other key factors in the employment are wrong - a bullying culture, inadequate pay, lousy working conditions and so forth - but all other things being equal, people will gravitate to, and remain loyal longer to an organisation that makes them feel valued and special.

BEAT 102: If people are feeling the January blues right now, should they start looking - or will it pass for most people?
Fortify: We get a vast number of calls in the first weeks of the new year. Common sense dictates that making a decision when you are down in the dumps - whether it be about your job or about a relationship - is not a good idea.

If you get the feeling that it is your working life that is the major drag-down on you, you need to clarify exactly what that means. Is it the fact that you have to work at all? Maybe you feel you were born to be a character is a Jane Austen novel? Is it the nature of the company that you work for or the nature of the work that you do? BIG difference here. If you love the kind of work you do, the people you work with and the customers and suppliers that you deal with, then your unhappiness presumably stems from something in the organisation's style or culture. Simple solution - move job. If your unhappiness centres on the nature of the work that you do, you are looking at the (fortunately rare) circumstance of a career transition - moving into a new line of work altogether.

Next question: Is this unhappiness a recent development, a gradual realisation that you are not happy, or have you felt this way for a long time? Too often the, “I hate my job” conversation in the pub is nothing more than a continuance of, “Isn’t the damn weather just lousy?” The person is rarely clear about what exactly is making them less than chipper. So step one is to clarify that. You should clarify it to the extent that you could explain it to a visitor from Mars. THEN you can start thinking about what to do about it …

BEAT 102: Why is it that many workers will start out on the great job hunt, but not have a clue about where they want to end up? We've talked about this before - you're always amazed when you see this aren't you?
Fortify: Absolutely. I think people go out there with no plan because they are not clear about what makes them happy / unhappy. Because we are all so hassled and busy and playing catch-up with our lives all the time that they never have the time (or maybe the inclination) to sit down and think about this stuff. Because they are regarding the job as a necessary evil and just “getting on with it.” For some people it runs deeper than that and they don’t consider the consequences of their job-hunts and job-moves because they don’t expect to be happy in their working lives (or in their entire lives).

Whatever the reason, embarking on a job-hunt without applying a good dose of common sense to the process is not likely to result in an “and they all lived happily ever after” ending for you. I would suggest looking at your calendar, your diary, and taking two little chunks of time out for yourself. Pick a time when you are going to be rested and fresh and go somewhere that you are not going to be disturbed. Then think about this:

1. Whatever age you are now, roll the clock forward.
2. It’s your birthday, 10 years from now. (If you’re very young try 5 years from now).
3. You are surrounded by everyone who matters to you in the world and they have all bellowed out “Happy Birthday To You.”
4. You have closed your eyes, blown out the candles and made your wish.
5. When you open your eyes, look around you in this future life. Think just about your life outside of work.
6. Where are you living?
7. How are you living?
8. What’s your standard of living?
9. How great is your life?
10. Who are those people around you – the ones who matter so much to you?

1. Then think about your working life in that future picture.
2. Are you still working?
3. Full-time? Part-time?
4. Working for yourself or for an organisation?
5. Are you a top dog in the company or are you happy further down the ladder? And so on ...

BEAT 102: Wow! So it really can be that simple ... What about the interview? Some people have a great knack of putting themselves down at every opportunity - but when you get to a job interview, would you urge people to get that out of their head and sell themselves?
Fortify: Oh God yes! There is nothing more frustrating for an interviewer than to be sitting there watching someone have a panic attack at the prospect of talking about those things they are talented and skilled at. My 11-year old nephew from New York has a great expression that applies in this case - “Build a bridge and get over it.” You have to get over it!

Think of it this way: You are the interviewer. You are asking largely the same questions to a group of similarly qualified, similarly trained and similarly experienced candidates. When you get to the bit about strengths and abilities, most of them blush to the roots of their hair, stutter and stumble, and all but apologise for their existence. But one or two of them sit back, ponder the question and then confidently list off the things that they have excelled at in their most recent job - stuff they have had feedback on, done training or read up on, compliments from customers, they are able to point to concrete evidence of their efforts and skills in these areas. Who would you shortlist for the second round interview?

BEAT 102: When you put it like that, it seems so obvious.
Fortify: The bulk of this centres on two problems. First, people don’t know, or haven’t thought, about what they are really good at. This goes back to the problem of not getting gold stars in the grown-up world. So you need to sit down and reflect on this. Do a StrengthsFinder test on the web. There’s a great book called Now Discover Your Strengths that is a huge help in this regard. Second, and more important, you need to get comfortable saying these things about yourself. We don’t thump ourselves on the chest and say how great we are on a day-to-day basis, so the language that you need to use - this specialised look-at-me-I’m-great vocabulary - does not flow. We stutter and hem and haw. We blush. You have got to desensitise yourself and the way to do that is practise!

BEAT 102: What about clothing for the interview - do many people get it wrong?
Fortify: I interview all the time and I rarely see people get it WRONG per se. What I see is people getting it the SAME. If I’m seeing a large group over a couple of days - particularly younger candidates - they tend to morph into one another after a while. Almost all of the women will be wearing a black suit (whether that colour suits them or not) with either a white T-shirt top or a large-collared white shirt underneath. The men will mostly have navy suits with white shirts and red ties.

It's tricky; you want to fit in, but you also want to stand out. Case in point: We had a young female client, straight out of college, going for a group interview in a high-end environment. After some back-and-forth on this, she ended up wearing a striking pale grey suit, with a silk T-shirt top in a pale pink shade that really lit up her face. She had a high-quality silk scarf (borrowed from her aunt) tucked inside the suit so she had a strong bead of colour under her chin and tracing the line of the lapel on her jacket - very grown-up, very classy. She was going to wear her hair in a ponytail, but we recommended a French roll. (If you are coming out of college, you don't want to have a 'little-girl' hairstyle. Remember Hilary Clinton's closing words at the Yale Commencement Address? "Hair matters!") Our client borrowed good shoes, a good bag and a really good coat. We finished the look off with a nice pair of gloves. She looked and felt a million dollars - Grace Kelly! More to the point, she could see her competitors blanch when she walked in. The others may have spent big bucks on their outfits - but one black suit and white shirt looks very much like another. It's the overall impression in the context of 'the herd' that you need to consider ...

BEAT 102: If you are unsuccessful at a couple of interviews, do you think many people lose confidence and stay in their miserable jobs?
Fortify: It’s true - people get very interview-shy. Almost everyone regards public speaking as a strange and difficult experience. Public speaking in an interview when the Spanish Inquisition are on the other side of the table staring into your soul is even more daunting. The biggest mistake I see in this regard is people not learning from their mistakes.

An interview is a very stressful experience and you very quickly forget the detail of what went on in the room. We recommend de-briefing yourself immediately afterwards. Whether the interview went well or disastrously wrong, jot down everything you can remember from the room. What they asked is obviously hugely important. It gives you the blueprint for what people are concerned about when they meet you for the first time. What you said is equally important. Did you get your points across? Did you drop any clangers? Did you dry up halfway through an answer that you thought you had prepared well? Did you remember to tell them that you can walk on water and raise the dead? If you were to bring a dictaphone into the interview room, you would be amazed at what actually went on.

When the body goes into ‘fight or flight’ in a stressful situation, the brain quickly forgets a lot of what happened in the situation - it’s probably a coping mechanism that we evolved back in the caveman days. You have to overcome this and analyse your performance. You can also wait a while and ask for detailed feedback. If you frame the request properly and strike the right tone, you can get a lot of useful impressions about what they liked and didn't like about you.

BEAT 102: Your book has done very well, hasn't it? Tell us what people can expect to find in Where’s my Oasis?
Fortify: All of the above and more! Career planning. Dreaming about your future. January blues. All the elements of the modern job-hunt. CVs - finding your strengths, and using the right language to sell them. All kinds of interview questions. Counting down to the interview. Debriefing afterwards. Presentations and public speaking.

It’s a big book. Deliberately so. But very few people would find it useful to read it from cover to cover. Career management and job-hunting are the kind of subject that you need to dip into - we rarely have a client who avails of the full range of our services. Most people will pick and choose the elements that they need help with. So for instance, someone coming for a practice interview session may only want to address 4 or 5 areas of questioning that they have had difficulty with in the past and work on discovering the best way for them to approach those probes. They are in and out in 40 minutes. The next person in the door may be a nervous wreck about interviews and may take 2 or 3 short sessions to find their feet. They’ll do a bit of homework in between each one and, hopefully, find their voice and their approach improving with each one. The book is the same. There’s lots of stop-and-start, with exercises and materials designed to get you thinking.

Niall, at its essence job-hunting and career management is very simple - there’s no brain surgery involved and so we have kept the book clear and approachable and have even injected a bit of craic here and there.

BEAT 102: Rowan, thank you very much and it's good to hear your thoughts on this as always. That's Rowan Manahan, the book is Where’s My Oasis available in all the usual online and offline bookstores. You can get more information on the website: www.fortifyservices.com